Bobby Jindal: Birth control should be over the counter

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is calling for over-the-counter, oral contraception sales, arguing that such a move would take a potent political issue away from Democrats.

“As a conservative Republican, I believe that we have been stupid to let the Democrats demagogue the contraceptives issue and pretend, during debates about health care insurance, that Republicans are somehow against birth control,” Jindal wrote in The Wall Street Journal. “It’s a disingenuous political argument they make.”

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Republican objections to mandatory birth control coverage in health insurance coverage were a major part of Democratic messaging toward women in the 2012 election cycle. Republicans wanted an exemption to the mandate for religious organizations. Jindal argues over-the-counter sales to those over 18 years of age would make this debate irrelevant.

“Democrats have wrongly accused Republicans of being against birth control and against allowing people to use it. That’s hogwash,” Jindal wrote. “But Republicans do want to protect those who have religious beliefs that are opposed to contraception. The latest opinion from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is a common-sense call for reform that could yield a result everyone can embrace: the end of birth-control politics.”

As head of the Republican Governors Association and a potential 2016 presidential candidate, Jindal has been working to position himself as a thought leader within the GOP.

Readers' Comments (128)

Wow! The Republican party better curb Jindal before he goes totally sane! The next thing you know he'll be saying creationism should NOT be taught in Louisiana schools and paid for with taxpayer funded vouchers! Those crazy Republicans, what on this 6,000 year old Earth are they going to think of next?

I would agree. However, not all birth control options are appropriate for OTC (Norplant, IUDs, etc.).

The goal is that the 150+ million women in this country should be able to make their own choices on healthcare regardless of others religious beliefs and those choices should be covered in comprehensive health insurance.

I fail to see how the religious beliefs of the small minority should affect the coverage of the majority. Pacifists are not exempt from paying taxes for defense, Muslims and Jews are not exempt from paying taxes used for pork industry subsidies, there are many cases where our tax dollars go to things we may morally object to.

The number of Americans that are opposed to contraception is very small. The majority of Catholics do not observe Catholic reproductive doctrine.

Santorum says legal birth control is still not ok. And so does many in your party that agree with him, Bobby. You liars think you can fool the country but you cant and didnt in 2012. Start proudly telling the truth like Akins, Mourdock, and Walsh all did. Was that also the Democrats putting those words in their mouths? Or introducing the forced Government ultrasound wand rape of women in Virginia?

Nice one, governor. So conservatives fight tooth and nail over an issue that they too win elections on. When they get beat down in a presidential campaign, rather than having real dialogue about the issue and working something out, simply walk away from the issue, thus taking away a major Democratic issue. I thought he was supposed to be a "thinker."

What Mr. Jindal and his fellow Republicans (continue to) fail to grasp is that birth control is a part of basic health care and the whims of an employee should not allow them to be able to deny women the right to that care. Their war on Planned Parenthood -- which is what prompted the so-called concern for the religious right to deny women health care has been, and will continue to, cost the Republican Party dearly at the ballot box.

Jindal is an opportunist. He has no chance in hell to be on the national scene. His background in science was prostituted for conforming to the Republican talking points. He has no morals, no integrity. Wait till his next pronouncements just as idiotic and self-serving!

All forms of contraception should be available without co-pay, i.e., free for all women under and over age 18. Jindal is just looking for a way that someone will get money for contraceptives and save the poor, poor insurance companies from having to cover something for free. And, there are still plenty of Republicans that art totally against any form of birth control. If Republicans believed that birth control should be sold OTC, they would have raised that argument long ago and avoided the issue completely. They didn't! Women want and need birth control free.

hey if you can buy a joint over the counter why not a good night on the road? Then again - Progressives, Socialists and Democrats would love to have a Department of Condoms and Condums with employees, pensions and buildings and such. WE need to increase the debt if we are to catch up to Greece - so says Obamaclaus

"Democrats have wrongly accused Republicans of being against birth control and against allowing people to use it. That’s hogwash,” Jindal wrote. “But Republicans do want to protect those who have religious beliefs that are opposed to contraception."

LIAR! If this were just about PERSONAL objection, then those who don't believe in birth control would merely not use it themselves and shut their yaps while others make different choices for THEMSELVES. What they OBJECT to is..... supposedly .......paying for someone else to take it, either through incsurance coverage or government programs.

If YOU don't believe in birth control....DON'T USE IT. But you have no right to stop another person from obtaining birth control through insurance coverages. I don't really care to pay for your Viagra needs, but I understand the concept of joining with a pool of others to spread costs throughout the group, to minimize individual exposure to healthcare costs....you getting the drugs and care that YOU need, while I get the drugs and care that I need.

As for OTC.....birth control comes with various risks.....some of them dangerous along with the importance to take them properly for maximum effectiveness. Seems like a doctor should at least screen for risk factors.